Thursday, December 3, 2009

Heyyy how are ya? it's been awhile yeah? Mr Thumbs here..hope all is well wichu.

First off let me share this track by Evelyn 'Champagne' King called 'Your Personal Touch'..we're keeping it on the upbeat funk tip (this is not disco IMHO). Press play and read the flyer (Trust Me). Cool?

Yes, we're having an 'end of the year', ugly sweater, no-holds-barred funk night at the AC Lounge. Instant Funk, Ugly Sweater Edition (That means you my friend, will get a chance to wear an ugly sweater and make it cool). Should be one funky holiday event. Maybe the bar will have super spiked egg nog for you as well for wearing that sweater. Thank you to everyone that has supported Instant Funk. We are fortunate to have 6 events under our belt (already?).

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Hi kids.As you may already know, it's September. As you may not already know, we're doing our Instant Funk night again on the 23rd. And boy are we excited! This month we will be featuring our good friend DJ Charlie Rock. If you know Charlie Rock then I've already said enough. If you don't, then by all means consider this your formal invitation to come get acquainted.

Thumbs and I have decided to do a little something different for this month's mix. We decided to square off and rep a group of our choosing. I present to you Instant Funk Mix Vol 3: The Bar-Kays vs. Funkadelic

For those of you who dig a little "behind the music" type info, in addition to doing our mixes we've each done our homework.

The Bar-Kays

Hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, The Bar-Kays signed to Volt (a Stax subsidiary) in 1967. By spring of that year they had released "Soul Finger," a searingly funky album with a hit single of the same title, and established themselves as Stax' 2nd house band. That summer, Otis Redding selected The Bar-Kays to back him. That December, tragically, a plane carrying Otis and The Bar-Kays crashed, killing all passengers except trumpeter Ben Cauley. James Alexander, the bassist for the group, was not on the plane. The next year, the group was rebuilt around the surviving two members, again taking their place at Stax' house band, backing Rufus Thomas, Albert King, and The Staples Singers. The group also backed Isaac Hayes on his legendary album, "Hot Buttered Soul."

In 1970, the group made an important change, adding, for the first time, a lead singer to their ranks. With the addition of Larry Dodson, the group was ready to come up from the shadows and take center stage. Their first few albums were largely conceptual, fusing rock and funk in a style similar that of Sly & The Family Stone and Funkadelic. Receiving minimal support from Stax, the albums enjoyed little success commercially. This turned around in 1976, when the group signed with Mercury, opening for Parliament on their "P-Funk Earth Tour" and releasing their first gold album in 1978, entitled "Flying High On Your Love." This album contained that devil-may-care dance floor classic, "Let's Have Some Fun."

Asshole alert: The success of their album caught the green eye of Fantasy Records, the label that had purchased all of Stax' mastertapes in the wake of their bankruptcy. The label promptly dug out old unreleased Bar-Kays' jams and released them as the "Money Talks" LP. The Bar-Kays didn't see a single penny of the money generated by this album. To Fantasy I would like to issue a formal, "Shame on you for your insufferable greed, " along with an informal, "Suck it you bastards." However, I suppose there is a silver lining here, in that the song "Holy Ghost" was on this album, so even though it was done in a despicable way, Fantasy Records is responsible for breaking this brilliant song out of the vaults.

The Bar-Kays went on to release two more gold albums, and ultimately released a total of 18 albums over the course of their career. Between 1976 and 1987 they hit the R&B singles chart a whopping 23 times. The Bar-Kays underwent almost continual changes, from group members to musical styles, but it was most likely this flexibility and vitality that was responsible for the group's long successful career.

And now, I will pass the mic to my better half in this funky family, Thumbprint:

Funkadelic

Funkadelic is a band formed by George Clinton in 1964. It is hardto separate them from Parliament because they go hand in hand. Theworld is familiar with Parliament-Funkadelic. Let's set it straight bysaying Funkadelic is the band and The Parliaments took care of thevocals. If you're studying funk, get familiar with the Funkadelicsound. They are the ones that evolved the synthy, slower guitar riffsin their music. They also included parts of disco and electro music.The term P-Funk came from this group which came fromParliament-Funkadelic. The P-Funk term became a sub genre that helpedpaved the way for alot of funk artists. Gotta thank George Clintonfor that one.

For more info about funkadelic's history and discography, check outtheir wikipedia. It has a vast knowledge info of artists thatwere involved with the band. You might see some familiar names therelike Bootsy Collins or Eddie Hazel.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

In light of Thumbs' last post I've decided to link this album. That and my own good fortune for stumbling upon the free download (after a number of google searches).

A little background:

Bernard Wright joined his first group at the tender age of 8, a local jazz ensemble by the name of The Junior Firebolts. Seeing as he was quite a gifted little keyboardist, he was invited to tour with Lenny White at 13, and by age 16 was playing with Tom Browne. A couple of short years later he was signed to GRP and released his debut album 'Nard. The album didn't enjoy too much success commercially, which is a damn shame because it's f*ckin wonderful. Jazzy, funky, really slick. It didn't go entirely unnoticed though, as you will undoubtedly recognize...

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Ahh yes, I'm excited about our next Installment of Instant Funk at AC Lounge! We feel very blessed to do another event and to be able to play the stuff we love/like!

For this post, i'd like to talk about samples. Mainly, funk samples that were used on the more familiar hiphop/r&b songs that we hear on the radio (or your playlist). It is true that most hiphop/r&b songs use jazz samples, but I would like to focus more on the 70's funk. Here's a taste of 70's funk songs that were sampled.

*Steely Dan filed a major lawsuit against Peter Gunz for this one, but then Deja Vu made Steely Dan rich in my mind. Black Cow is on that slow funk groovy tip. I would also rock Daydreamin any day, good job Ashley!

Chaka Khan and Rufus - Do you love what you feelCamron - Rockin and Rollin

*I posted this just to say that 'J Dupri how could you?!' haha. This track should not even be sampled at all. Just leave it the way it is

Slowed up Funk

The Whispers - You are Number oneVisionaries - Blessings

*Big fan of both Whispers and Blessings by Visionaries. Can't go wrong with both.

The Whispers - And The Beat Goes onWill Smith - Miami

*Ending this segment with this track. This is on my PQ Nights mix that I did back in 05 (cop it accesshiphop.com or freshcrate.com!) I love me some funk disco steez. I cant get mad when people hear this and they go 'Welcome to Miami'.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Happy August everyone. Damn it's hot out. I'm seriously breaking a sweat daily. But you know what? I don't blame it on the sunshine. I don't blame it on the moonlight. I don't blame it on the good times. I blame it on the boogie.And now you can too.INSTANT FUNK MIX VOL 2

This one is kicked off by Thumbs, and finished up by yours truly. One hour of little funk goodies for our good little funkers.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Two things I’ve noticed as the years have peeled by. First, nothing is ever new. And second, no one does it all on their own. We learn from one another, and if we were raised right, we not only build upon the advances of one another, we advance alongside one another.

In this vein I’m kicking off a multi-part series entitled “Pay It Backward.” Basically, I’ll begin with a brief bio of one funky artist, at which point we will collectively turn and “pay it backward” by putting a little shine on another funky individual (or group) that either directly or indirectly influenced said artist. Here we go.

The Whispers

The Whispers got their start in 1963 singing on street corners in Watts and occasionally performing in nightclubs in the San Francisco Bay Area. The group originally consisted of twin brothers Walter and Wallace Scott, and friends Nicholas Caldwell, Marcus Hutson, and Gordy Harmon, who was later replaced by Leavell Degree. During the late 60s to early 70s, the group released a number of hit records and several gold albums. It was in 1980, however, that the group released their first platinum album, The Whispers, containing their most famous single, "And The Beat Goes On."Here the group discusses the intricate process of making this song in the days before drum machines. Apparently the beat truly did go on, and on, and on...

Originally hailing from Cleveland, but eventually going on to embody the Philladelphia soul sound, the O'jays are widely regarded as one of the most important soul groups of the past 40 years. Attending the same high school, the 5 original members started out as The Triumphs in 1958, then later changed their name to The Mascots. Their first single enjoyed some airplay by a local Cleveland DJ, Eddie O'jay, who decided to take them under his wing, inspiring the group to rename itself yet again.

In 1968, the group teamed up with songwriter-producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, signing to their label, Philadelphia International. By this time the group had trimmed down to three members: Eddie Levert, William Powell, and Walter Williams. Their first album released on the label was Back Stabbers, which was both a critical and popular success. The title jam, composed by McFadden & Whitehead, was a massive hit, sampled years later by Angie Stone.

The O'jays went on to release countless hits and continued recording through the 90s, though not with the same three members, as Powell passed away in 1977. At this time, Sammy Strain joined the group. In 2005, Williams, Powell, Levert, and Strain were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.